RS SPYDER TEAM ENDS DREAM SEASON

Bernhard and Dumas, who clinched the drivers championship before they arrived
for this race weekend, also finished second overall to the LMP1 Audi R-10.  The
Penske Racing Porsches also scored eight straight overall wins during the
season, beating the more powerful 12-cylinder Audis on both street course and
traditional road circuits.  And for the last hour of the race, Dumas chased the
leading Audi, passing it twice in tight corners, but not quite able to make his
lead stick on the straights.
“I put more than maximum pressure on him – I gave it all I had.  With 200
horsepower less than the Audis, I think we gave everyone quite a show, and we
are pleased with the outcome today as well as the whole season.  We not only won
our class championship, but we beat those guys overall eight times,” said Dumas,
who celebrated his first ALMS drivers title.
“I could not have dreamed of a season like this – beating the overall Le Mans
winners eight straight races.  Penske Racing and Porsche Motorsport gave us the
best of both worlds, and Romain and I are grateful for the opportunity,” said
co-driver and co-champion Timo Bernhard, who is a two-time ALMS champion, having
won a GT2 title with Alex Job Racing in 2004.
Bernhard said the competition for both the overall and class lead was very close
in the beginning, and he decided to play it safe and see how things played out.  
He ended up passing the pole-sitting Penske Porsche RS Spyder of Sascha Maassen
(Germany), and then went after the overall Audi leader, but traffic forced him
to concentrate on the LMP2 battle.  Bernhard and Dumas finished on the class
podium for all 12 ALMS races
Maassen and his co-driver Ryan Briscoe (Australia) fell to fourth place in class
late in the race, but Briscoe passed the two Acuras ahead of him to finish
second in class and fourth overall.  Maassen and Briscoe won the LMP2 class
three times this year, including two overall wins.
“It’s been a wonderful season, and this one-two class finish – the 11th win in
12 races – brings back the glory days of the Porsche 917/30 for both Porsche and
Penske Racing.  It’s been a huge honor to be a part of this program, and we
believe this puts the exclamation point on a season which will put the Porsche
RS Spyder right with the 917 in Porsche racing history,” said Tim Cindric,
president of Penske Racing.

Porsche and Penske Racing swept all the championships in the LMP2 class, winning
the chassis and engine manufacturers titles, the drivers crowns, and the team
championship for the second year and a row.  It was the Penske Porsche RS
Spyder’s third win at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway – the first win at the car’s
debut in October, 2005.
In the GT2 contest, three Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs and a Ferrari swapped the class
lead nine times during the four-hour event, but the Salo/Melo Ferrari won the
race in the end, clinching the team, driver and manufacturer’s title for
Ferrari.  The Flying Lizard Porsche of Johannes van Overbeek/Joerg Bergmeister
had an outside chance to win the drivers title, but a flat tire after an off-
track excursion caused an extra pit stop which resulted in a fourth-place
finish.  The Tafel Racing Porsche driven by Wolf Henzler/Dominik Farnbacher
finished second for the second race in a row with a late-race pass of the Rahal
Letterman Porsche of Ralf Kelleners/Tom Milner, which ended up third.
Here is a summary of Porsche’s record in the American Le Mans Series since its
inception in 1999:
PORSCHE AMRICAN LE MANS SERIES STATISTICS
(1999 – 2007)
Porsche overall wins: 9 (Mid-Ohio, ‘06; Long Beach, ‘07; Houston, ‘07, Salt
Lake City, ’07, Lime Rock, ’07, Mid-Ohio ’07, Road America, ’07, Mosport ’07,
Detroit ‘07 )
Porsche Class Victories:  83
Audi - 69
Corvette – 55
Lola - 32
Ferrari - 21
Dodge - 16
BMW -  15
Porsche LMP2 Wins: 19
Porsche GTS Wins:  2
Porsche GT/GT2 Wins:  61
Porsche 911 GT3 R/RS/RSR wins: 57
Porsche Class Poles:  74
Audi – 51
Corvette – 49
Lola/MG/AER – 31
Longest Class Winning Streak:  
21 Porsche GT class wins in a row: 2002 – 2004 (started with 2002 12 Hours of
Sebring - ended by Ferrari at Lime Rock 2004)
Porsche factory driver Maassen leads ALMS drivers in all-time consecutive starts
40 (streak ended at Lime Rock in 2004) and ALMS GT/GT2 class wins (22).  Maassen
is the only driver in ALMS to win a race every year the series has been run,
including victories in 2004 at Sebring and Petit Le Mans, a 2005 LMP2 win in the
new Porsche RS Spyder prototype, and 2006 wins in the RS Spyder at Salt Lake
City, Road America, Petit Le Mans and Laguna Seca.  Maassen continued that
streak in 2007 with his St. Petersburg victory.
Porsche has 83 ALMS class wins, 14 more than any other manufacturer.

Porsche has won the GT/GT2 ALMS manufacturers title seven of the eight years of
ALMS’ existence (including 2006 title).   2006 was Porsche’s first LMP2 title,
and Porsche won the drivers, manufacturers, engine and chassis titles in LMP2
for 2007.

Tags: ALMS